Who needs to sleep? Let's shop.

We have arrived! The weather is wonderful, the people are great, the food is fanstastic, and I've already seen fields of tulips. Oh yeah, some sleep would be nice. It is almost 9pm here (3pm in the US) and we have not slept since the night before we left. I am too tired to calculate how many hours that is without sleeping, but it's a lot. I'm so tired that their English is actually better than mine right now.

We were greeted at the airport by the GSE coordinator for our Delft visit, Tawny (that's my English spelling of her name), and Marcel, the secretary of the GSE group. When they saw how much luggage we had with us, they asked for an additional person to help drive us. Four women and I believe 9 suitcases. Try fitting that into a Eurpeon elevator...it ain't happenin. I know I personally had 84 pounds of luggage. We'll see what happens on the way home.

We leave the airport (in three cars) and drive to Delft which is about 45 minutes from Amsterdam. Everything is much closer than i thought. The Netherlands is probably about the size of Connecticut. We drop of all of our luggage at Tawny's house. We get aquainted for awhile and rest (I slept for about 45 minutes). We head to the supermarket to pick up items for lunch. The supermarket was surprisingly the same as most of ours. The only thing is, it is obvious we are American. Tawny said I look the most American because I have long hair and big sunglasses. I'm not really sure what that means or if it's good or not. There's no hiding it. I'm a tourist.

Lunch is fresh bread, meat, cheese and fruit. Oh, and there is every type of juice you could possibly imagine. I recommend the mango juice. It's quite tasty. The cheese is AMAZING and at one point I had to request it be placed on the opposite side of the table from me. We also had some wonderful cookies that look like waffles and have syrup in the middle.

After lunch, we were off to the Delft porcelin factory. Delft is known worldwide for its wonderful pottery, tiles, and porcelin products. It was all very beautiful. Let me just say this. I took out Euros from the bank today and I believe most of it is already gone. Although, that may be more the value of the dollar right now than the price of what I bought. Either way, my sisters better like what they're getting. ;)

It's time to meet our first family for the week. Their house is absolutely adorable. It looks like it is out of a magazine. The walls are covered with paintings that our host, Guus, has painted. There are fresh flowers everywhere and the smell of something baking. We sit out in the back garden, which Guus has filled with tulips and other flowers, to get acquainted. We're offered an apple tart and again 10 choices of juice, coffee, tea, or wine. I'll tell you how tired I am. I did not have the glass of wine. I drank water. The wine would've knocked me out upon first sip. The weather was beautiful and I enjoyed talking with everyone. I'm extremely impressed at how great everyone's English is and how much they know about our country. I mean, I knew they could speak English well, but the extent of their vocabulary is very impressive. I can now say about 5 words in Dutch. One of them is cheese (kaas).

Dinner was an unbelievable meal. Let me tell ya, if I never eat a Lean Cuisine again, it'll be too soon. Here's what we had for dinner: meatball soup, lamb, potatoes, a delicious brown sauce of some sort, green beans, salad, and fresh fruit salad for dessert. This is one of the things I love most about Europe. The food is so fresh that the taste is magnified. Our hosts are awesome. They are 73 and have been married 46 years. Guus looks like Anthony Hopkins and is such a free spirit. He rides motorcycles (at 73!), travels, reads, writes, paints, gardens, cooks, and is so in love with his wife. It is so sweet. He tells me the secret to living to be old. "Keep your mind busy with the things you love. Oh, and a glass of red wine with dinner." By the end of dinner and my glass of wine, I'm once again starting to fall asleep sitting up. I decide it is far beyond time for bed. I decided to stop and write anyway..good thing I type quickly. I would upload a picture from today, but that would take away some sleeping time.

Tomorrow we are leaving very early for the flower auction, visiting the Delft Technical University, and giving our first presentation. I'm off to sleep...